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Legend has it Schuster and Co borrowed a new Glastron with the "Aqua Lift" hull. (The same kinda hull that was kicking everyones ass at Long Beach.) And made a splash of it. The rest is copyright fraud history

Same as I recall the start of the Splash Copyrights Story and there was never a winner.

Oh yeah Cobra sold tons of these in Western Canada, lots still around. Some folks up here actually call anything of this style a “Cobra-style” boat” lol. There were other copies as well, Vanguard comes immediately to mind. Rick Bitz Of Eagle Fiberglass also produced several performance boats that were “remarkably similar” to more well-known brands.

One of these days I will have a better pic and some video I hope. I look at this picture and think what the hell am I doing....Others on the shore tell me when I am running it is flying flat....One of these days.

Two very different hull designs, make that three ... I forgot the first picture did not work out , too much stern lift , a few mods and Jimmy Clouser kicked a lot of butt with it. The last picture was the original plug.

As somewhat of an aside, this whole thread has been about illegally copying boat hulls. It was actually quite easy to do because one could use the hull (or deck) to be copied as the plug to make production boats. And it's been going on pretty much since fiberglass replaced wood as the preferred hull building material.

In other fields - such as the automotive world - copying things was much harder to do - until recently. The ability to digitize just about any object has revolutionized the automotive (and manufacturing) world - and not always in a good way. It is now not only possible, but relatively easy to digitize / copy not only parts of an automobile, but even the entire vehicle. All one has to do is go to China to see this technology being blatantly (and rampantly) used to make cheap knock offs of some fairly expensive automobiles. And the Chinese government and court system basically turns a blind eye to the whole thing. Ah, progress.

1992 Progression 22
Diamond Marine Massaged Mercury 2.5 / 200

"Outboards only smell bad when they're in front of you - which they usually are."

Actually you are a little part right.....Schuster borrowed a Glastron and Splashed the hull and made the SS Deck (Windshield) Not sure if Sidewinder Splashed the Schuster hull or did the same a borrowed a Glastron for the weekend......Sidewinder did theirs with a Lo Pro Deck then splashed the Schuster SS Torino Deck so as fair play Schuster Splashed the Sidewider Lo Pro deck....Then the law suits where flying and no one was winning anything so it turned into a free for all and now there are Splashes of Splashed boats that no one would even think about today.

The history used to be all over on the Sidewinder Forum and I think Old Rigger is still around who worked for one or the other or maybe even both......Been awhile.

About the only difference between the two boats are the seat set ups.....Sidewinder had A Frame Fiberglass Back to Back and Schuster used a Semi Barrel setup that are back to back.

Schuster seat setup.

Karsten

I got my history from the Sidewinder site forumdisplay.php but yours looks more complete as to hulls and decks. I'll just say thanks to who ever started it all the sidewinders and clones/copies are still some of the best looking boats ever made.

As somewhat of an aside, this whole thread has been about illegally copying boat hulls. It was actually quite easy to do because one could use the hull (or deck) to be copied as the plug to make production boats. And it's been going on pretty much since fiberglass replaced wood as the preferred hull building material.

In other fields - such as the automotive world - copying things was much harder to do - until recently. The ability to digitize just about any object has revolutionized the automotive (and manufacturing) world - and not always in a good way. It is now not only possible, but relatively easy to digitize / copy not only parts of an automobile, but even the entire vehicle. All one has to do is go to China to see this technology being blatantly (and rampantly) used to make cheap knock offs of some fairly expensive automobiles. And the Chinese government and court system basically turns a blind eye to the whole thing. Ah, progress.

Yrs ago I ran a factory svc center for Makita power tools and had customers buying our parts for their Chinese knock offs. Completely interchangable.
They even copied their catalog. Had a picture of a Makita factory w/their name on it!

Yrs later in the assembly tool sales business, plants were being very restrictive w/plant tours and not allowing cameras.
At that time the big deal was Japanese touring U.S. plants and always had one person in group who remained silent. Those guys were Japanese engineers w/photographic memories.

I'd rather be competitive w/junk I built in my garage than win w/stuff I bought.

I refuse to allow common sense to interfere w/my boat buying decisions.